0:04Skip to 0 minutes and 4 secondsMy name is Maks Belitski. I'm a lecturer in entrepreneurship at Henley Business School, University of Reading. Well, this course will introduce you to digital technologies, to what we call SMACI. Social media, mobile, business analytics, business data, and Internet of Things, and cloud computing. All of them are interrelated and they're becoming more and more important for business-- independently, on location, on the country, on the industry, because their technologies are becoming more and more embedded into the business model of the companies. Just making sure that your technologies are perfectly aligned with your business model so you know how to strategically grow and develop your customers to sell. However, the challenges-- you need e-competences.

0:54Skip to 0 minutes and 54 secondsYou need a certain number and a combination of skills. It's marketing skills, it's IT skills, it's analytical skills, strategic skills to be able to recognise, adapt, change and implement new technologies. A new digital technology wave is coming and it's inevitably putting more pressure on businesses, independent of the size, small and large and medium. And, in fact, the small and medium companies are benefiting more by technology. And that's what we see. They're becoming more aggressive and investing in new technologies and this instantly gets them access to their large pool of resources and a larger market.

1:36Skip to 1 minute and 36 secondsWell, this course will allow independently who you are in your background-- we'll introduce you to the digital technologies and we'll allow you to do your first steps towards becoming an e-leader, to making sure that you pick up the right technology for your business that can be aligned with your business model, and in fact change your business model in the way that you're more agile and you can reflect faster with the technology to any changes in the market. So to win, obviously a competitive advantage, to be the first mover, also to have some secrets and some strategic protection.

Welcome from the team

Welcome to the course!

We’re looking forward to meeting you over the next 4 weeks. Throughout the course we’ll encourage you to share examples of the role that new technologies play in your organisation and how they strengthen competitiveness. This will enable you to benefit from other learners’ experiences and to reflect on more effective approaches.

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

Describe how new technologies can help your business increase sales and returns on investment in technology and reflect this understanding in your preparation for this course.

Gain a better understanding of different technologies and how they can be applied to enhance the management, strategy and marketing of a business.

Use consulting techniques to produce a set of requirements and plans, to assist decision makers in formulating business technology solution strategies that ensure business sustainability.

Construct a matrix of the competences that you and your team need to develop to make the most effective use of digital technologies within your own organisation.

If you’re new to FutureLearn, why not familiarise yourself with the How it works section.

Polls

We will also invite you to complete a poll in each week so that we can analyse and share the results with you whilst the course is live. The aim of these polls is to help you reflect on where your organisation is currently positioned in terms of digital leadership and its use of emerging technologies.

Keeping a learning journal

We recommend you take notes throughout the course. You should use whichever format suits you best, whether that’s a paper notepad, a document in Word or another text editor. You might even consider using a blogging platform such as Tumblr, wordpress.com or Blogger, which would allow you to share your reflections with others – read the guide to blogging tools to find out more. Keeping a learning journal will help remind you of what we’ve covered in the course and how this relates to your own experiences. This can be really helpful when it comes to applying what you’ve learnt to your own job role. You may like to note down the learning objectives listed above, but also add some of your own personal objectives in your journal.

Peer Review

In weeks 2 and 4, you will be asked to write a short (up to 500 words), peer-reviewed assignment on the main topic from that week. Submitting your assignment will allow other learners to read your work and provide feedback, as well as giving you an opportunity to provide feedback to others. This can be a great way to learn from the experience of others. However, if you feel uncomfortable having your work read, or you have written about your own company and would prefer to keep it private then you may like to write it in your personal journal.

Transcripts

You can find the transcript for each video by clicking View Transcript in the bottom left of each video. You can also download a PDF version at the bottom of each Video Step.

The team

The digital leadership team at the Henley Business School aims to provide face to face teaching and training to fill the digital skills gap in the economy. These programmes equip students with key knowledge and skills to design and develop business solutions that involve the alignment of business strategy and technology.

You may find you have questions or would like further support whilst completing the course. We will try to respond to you but it won’t always be possible. By following the educators and student mentors you will be able to browse through the advice they give in response to other learner’s queries. If you can’t find the right answer, please post a comment in the step that relates to your concern and we will do our best to get back to you.